Four starters among Yankees' six All-Stars

NEW YORK -- The Yankees will be represented in force for the All-Star Game, boasting six players who were selected to the American League roster, including three members of the starting infield.

Second baseman Robinson Cano, shortstop Derek Jeter, third baseman Alex Rodriguez and outfielder Curtis Granderson will bring their road gray uniforms to Arizona's Chase Field, having been elected to the AL's starting lineup via fan voting.

In addition, catcher Russell Martin and closer Mariano Rivera have been named as All-Stars via the player vote, with Martin making the cut as a reserve.

"That's great -- it shows that a lot people are recognizing what the guys on this team have been doing," Granderson said. "Getting the chance to have that many guys out here playing definitely speaks highly for how these guys have been doing up to this point so far."

The 82nd Major League Baseball All-Star Game will be played on July 12. It will be televised nationally by FOX Sports, in Canada by Rogers Sportsnet and Sportsnet HD and Le Reseau des Sports, with pregame ceremonies beginning at 8 p.m. ET. ESPN Radio and ESPN Radio Deportes will provide exclusive national radio coverage. MLB Network, MLB.com and Sirius XM also will provide comprehensive All-Star Game coverage.

This season marks the first time that one team has been represented in the infield by at least three players since 2004, when the Yankees shipped Jason Giambi, Jeter and Rodriguez to that year's Midsummer Classic in Houston.

Receiving his third All-Star selection and second consecutive fan-elected start, the slick-fielding Cano notched the third-most votes in the Majors with 6,679,976, finishing more than 2 million votes ahead of Boston's Dustin Pedroia (4,391,835).

"It's good to go back again," Cano said. "I would say it's every player's dream. You want to come play on a team that wins and can go there and have fun."

Just six hits shy of becoming the 28th member of baseball's 3,000-hits club, Jeter received 4,536,386 votes and will represent the AL for the 12th time, beating out Asdrubal Cabrera of the Indians (4,073,992).

Now a 14-time All-Star, Rodriguez picked up 5,277,823 votes, finishing more than 1 million votes ahead of the Rangers' Adrian Beltre (4,036,191). Rodriguez now has six fan-elected starts at shortstop and six at third base.

Granderson is making his second All-Star appearance and first as a fan-elected starter, having claimed 6,683,887 votes.

That gives him the second-highest vote total of all time, behind only Jose Bautista's 7,454,753 votes this year but ahead of the previous high mark of Ken Griffey Jr.'s 6,069,688 votes in 1994.

"It's exciting, and I'm happy for the time being," Granderson said. "I'll be a little more excited once we get to that point, but for right now, I'll enjoy the moment for getting the nomination to do it."

A first-time AL All-Star after two appearances with the National League, Martin led at every checkpoint in the fan balloting before being overtaken by the Tigers' Alex Avila in the final week, 4,144,384 to 3,646,033.

"He deserves it -- he's got much better numbers than I do," Martin said. "I'm glad he's going to get the start; I was kind of worried about that, actually. It's going to be fun getting a chance to go out there. It's been a couple of years since I've been."

Rivera, the Yankees' ageless wonder, was picked as an All-Star for the 12th time. This year, he has already reached the 20-saves plateau for the 15th time in his career and has a crack at equaling Trevor Hoffman's record of 601 career saves later this season.

"Being named and making the All-Star team, it is a privilege, of course," Rivera said.

Two other Yankees pitchers had hopes of making the AL roster but were not selected.

CC Sabathia owns an 11-4 record and a 3.05 ERA, but he is scheduled to pitch two days before the All-Star Game and would thus be ineligible for to play. He said that he plans to enjoy the All-Star break with his family in the Bahamas instead.

"Had I been eligible to pitch, I probably would have been a little more disappointed," Sabathia said. "I felt like I've had a pretty good first half, but there's a lot of guys pitching well. Guys are having great years. I'll just keep going."

Reliever David Robertson also stated a convincing candidacy for an All-Star nod, owning an AL-best 1.05 ERA through play Sunday, but said that he understood having each team represented on the roster probably worked against him.

"It could have," Robertson said. "We've got a lot of great players on this team. Those other guys are getting to go, and I hope they have fun, I hope they have a good time and I hope they win."

Having already decided the starters, this week baseball fans will have the opportunity to select the final player on each All-Star team. Balloting began immediately following Sunday's Major League All-Star Selection Show presented by Taco Bell and continues until 4 p.m. on Thursday, July 7. The winners will be announced on MLB.com shortly thereafter.

Mobile voting in the U.S. is exclusive to Sprint, Nextel and Boost subscribers. To receive the 2011 All-Star Game Final Vote Sponsored by Sprint mobile ballot, text the word "VOTE" to 1122. To vote for a specific player, simply text message your choice to 1122. EXAMPLE: Text "A3" to vote for AL Player 3 or "N3" to vote for NL Player 3. Msg&Data Rates May Apply. Mobile voting in Canada is open to all carriers; fans should text their choices to 88555. Standard rates may apply.

On July 12, fans once again will have the opportunity to participate in the official voting for the Ted Williams Most Valuable Player presented by Chevy via the 2011 All-Star Game MVP Vote Sponsored by Sprint on MLB.com during the All-Star Game.

Bryan Hoch is a reporter for MLB.com. Follow him on Twitter @bryanhoch. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.